The Mech Touch novel Chapter 877

The Vesians ramped up the pressure against the Flagrant Swordmaidens. The Meandering Monkey mechs not only risked greater injury in an attempt to seriously harm the scouts of the Flagrant Swordmaidens, the light mechs of the Hostland Warriors also started showing up again.

"The Vesians are gearing up for battle!"

"The Meandering Monkeys stopped pussy-footing around. They’re trying to fell our mechs!"

The exhausted light mechs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens suffered quite a lot in the preceding days. Not only did Ves have to send the light mechs back into the field with hasty patch-up repairs, the mech pilots themselves underwent a huge amount of pressure.

Casualties started to mount. Mechs not only sustained serious damage, but also got wrecked!

Fortunately, the mech pilots ejected in time, causing no lives to be lost, but the Vesian light mechs always pounded the downed wrecks into scrap before they left.

This meant that even if Vandal or Swordmaiden reinforcements arrived to save the beleaguered squads, the wrecks became completely unrecoverable. Every time they dumped their wrecks in front of Ves, he could only shake his head in helplessness and relegate the remains for recycling.

The visible decline of the Vandal and Swordmaiden light mechs ratcheted up the tension inside the camp. As the prelude of the decisive battle, the frequent skirmishes between the scout mechs sort of served the same purpose as a duel between champions before a major set piece battle.

Even though the victory or loss of a single champion didn’t substantially affect the combat effectiveness of either side, in fact it carried huge implications in terms of morale!

Right now, the ’duel’ between the Vesian and Flagrant Swordmaiden light mechs stretched out over days, prolonging the hurt for the losing side. Bad news constantly poured in while good news made itself scarce.

Since the camp wasn’t very large and everyone could see the damaged light mechs returning from their patrols, the outcome of the skirmishes became obvious to everyone with a pair of eyes. _{freeweɓnovēl.coɱ}

Ves figured that the opposite must be taking place at the Vesian camp. Each time the Meandering Monkeys and the Hostland Warriors returned from their harassment missions, they’d probably show off their exploits with the full blessing of their superiors.

Such actions actions built up morale and pumped the other Vesian mech pilots up for battle.

Therefore, the change in morale from one side may not be alarming, but when the differences compounded on each other, the total effect was alarming!

"The Vesians are systematically dismantling us, starting with our confidence. Trashing our light mechs is only a means to an end to them! Devious bastards!"

The worst part about all of this was that even if the Vandals and Swordmaidens knew what the Vesians intended, what could they do? If they pulled back their light mech patrols and turtled close to the camp, wouldn’t that let the Vesians obtain a detailed view of their combat assets?

Not only that, the Vesians could easily pepper the camp with long-ranged laser fire, damaging the workshops and other critical facilities.

Therefore, even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens knew they were getting screwed, they were forced to play along, because every alternative at their disposal led to even worse outcomes!

"The Vesians are prepping us for the chopping block."

"Damnit, why don’t they attack already?! Put an end to our suffering!"

"I don’t know why we’re turtling up. Why don’t we go on the attack?"

"Idiot! Who would go on the attack while we’re completely blind? We’ll only fall into their trap if we rush out with haste!"

Even if Captain Byrd made the rational and most cautious decision by maintaining the status quo, she unintentionally gave the impression that she lack a spine.

The Vandals never let their enemies treat them as a punching bag! It was usually the opposite way around!

The instinct to attack was engraved into their martial tradition. Maintaining a static position and going on the defensive directly contradicted their usual conduct on the battlefield.

Usually, the Flagrant Vandals possessed the initiative to attack or retreat at will. This time, the mission forced them on a Super Earth where everyone’s mobility faced extreme constraints. The entire environment fought them from the start, causing them to fall into this helpless position where their strengths never came into play while their weaknesses became exposed to their enemies.

Lydia’s Swordmaidens shared the same characteristics as the Vandals. While they were a bit more used to trekking across untamed planets, even they underestimated the amount of rigors they needed to endure on Seven.

All of these deprivations severely impacted their morale and sapped their confidence in themselves. The Swordmaidens at least endured many crises before, and their training increased their willpower to insane heights, so they still held faith in themselves.

The Vandals on the other hand tumbled down as if they lost control of their legs. Ves really couldn’t stand it. They were so confident and conceited when they faced a weak opponent, but once they faced a serious Vesian threat they immediately turned into scaredy cats.

This was a typical mindset of bullying the weak and fearing the strong!

Captain Byrd belatedly became aware of the problem impacting the men, but what could she do? Raising morale had never been much of a concern to her, and her stilted, awkward speeches increased their doubt rather than assuaging it.

More critically, the Vandals lacked the only competent mech officer who could prop up everyone’s morale. The absence of Captain Orfan as a mental cornerstone to their confidence couldn’t come at a worse time.

They shouldn’t have been so eager to send away the exploration and follow-up parties without securing the main camp!

Now, due to the mishaps that Captain Orfan, Qilanxo, the fast transports, the Enduring Protectors and the Asterias suffered when they came too close to Starlight Megalodon, the Flagrant Swordmaidens faced the prospect of entering into battle without their help!